The semelees grew in numbers, overpowering time itself, until I was swirling in shadowed darkness.
Each and every one connected inside me, power bursting from my limbs, until finally, at last, I was the queen of fate.
I paused momentarily, knowing there was no going back after this moment, but also knowing I would give my life to save my mate’s.
And I’d spent the past six weeks considering each of my next words over and over. One wrong word, one tiny mistake, and the rippling effect could stretch through eons.
Whispering, I said the words that could damn me or save us completely.
I command you to twist fate. I command you to free the crown prince of Stonewild, Prince Adarian, and all of his Dark Raider band. I command you to set them free by rewriting time so that my guardian was never allowed to escape his chambers and accuse them. And I command you to have King Paevin’s evil plan abolished so that we may save the captured half-breeds and their enslaved children, eradicating the king’s plan in the process to wield an army and destroy the kingdoms. I command you to venture with me to the fae lands and rewrite history and time itself.
A clash of power reverberated through the cosmos.
It is as you wish, the semelees hissed inside me as one.
I shot through the galaxy, the semelees riding inside me, morphing into the terrifying shadow creatures that the history books had spoken of. Master Fistideeous had taught me of this power, of times in our pasts when previous lorafins had commanded the fates. The potential of a lorafin queen made me one of the most powerful and dangerous creatures of our land. Yet I would never be a slave because of it again.
The semelees and I collided with my realm in a sizzling crash, shooting through the sky, barreling toward Stonewild’s capital, and gliding right through the wards of the supernatural courts as though they were tissue paper.
We came to a crashing halt. Floating in the large entryway, high above the kingsfae and processing staff, the semelees and I hovered. The huge creatures coasted out of me and through the air, their deadly fangs coated with venom, gnashing the air as they waited for my final command.
Screams sounded.
Fae ran.
Eyes wide with horror gazed up at us.
It was the same looks I’d seen when I’d been five summers old. The one other time I’d brought several semelees back with me, not even realizing what I’d done.
But this time it was different. When I was five, they’d simply joined me on my journey. I hadn’t pulled them inside me, and I hadn’t controlled them. I hadn’t even realized what I’d done.
But now I did. I was a lorafin by birthright. The gods and goddesses had chosen to give me this power, and it was mine to command.
And I was choosing to wield it.
I hovered in the courts’ terrified midst as the shadow creatures billowed around me.
And I lifted a hand, knowing once I said the words, there was no turning back.
But Jax needed me.
Our friends needed me.
Bastian needed me.
The half-breeds needed me.
The kingdoms needed me.
My voice echoed through the chambers, mighty, godlike, and entirelymine.
I command you to rewrite time. I command you to twist fate.
Yes, my queen, they hissed simultaneously.
And then the semelees unleashed.
CHAPTER 22
